Sewing machine



F. ZALESKI SEWING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1922 June 7 1927.

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June 7 927- 1,631,179 F. ZALESKI SEWING MACHINE Filed Aug. '2; 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F rcmK zclles Ki Wm. k ww F. ZALESKI SEWING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet y/////////////% a =V/ rmnw BWPWWMM A 5 Patented June 7, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK ZALESKI, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO REECE SHOE MACHIN- ERY COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

SEWING MACHINE.

Application filed August 7, 1922. Serial No. 580,276.

chine and more especially to improve the work supporting and. engaging devices and their operation, the welt feeding and applying means and their operation, and the mode of actuation of the looper which cooperates with the needle during stitching. Other objects and advantages of the present machine will be explained hereinafter or. will be apparent to those skilled in the art. To the attainment of such objects and advantages the'present invention consistsin the novel machine, mechanisms, combinations, arrangements and devices, shown,; described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, Figure 1 is a the pertinent parts of a shoe stitching machine embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a right elevation showing certainof the same parts. i

Figure 3 is a left elevation on an enlarged scale of certain details shown in Figure 1. In Figures 1, 2 and 3 the parts are shown in the position they assume in the final stop position of the machine, with the needle fully retracted from the work.

Figure l is a View corresponding with Figure 3, but with the parts shown in a dif ferent stage of operation, while the needle is still engaged in the work, but has begun its retracting movement.

Figure 5 is a plan view of certain parts,

partly in section on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relation of the shoe, the channel guide, the welt strip and the welt guide, which latter is also termed a work gage, as the work bears against it at certain times.

Prior welt and turn stitching machines as shown in prior patents of Zaleski, et al., No. 1,288,366 of December 17, 1918 and No. 1,361,952 of December 14,1920, which may be referred to for general features and matters of construct-ion and operation which do not form apart of the present invention or are not illustrated herein.

As 1n said prior machines, the present in left elevation of,

vention may comprise the usual stitching instruments, in this-case including the work restv or bumper A against which the WOIkman holds the shoe during stitching, the channel guide B which engages with the preformed channel in the sole, the oscillating, curved, hooked needle C, the looper D which places the thread in the barb of the needle, the thread hook or finger E, cooperate with the looper, the feed device or awl G, and the instrument H'known as the back gage, against which the work contacts at certain times, and which also serves asa guide and feeder for the strip or welt in stitching welt shoes. The present invention relates more especially to the back gage H which is mounted at the forward end of its slidingshank h, and the work rest A upon a similar shank a, and the looper and. its actuation.

.It-will be understood that the machine is provided with the usual take-up which, however, is not indicated in the drawingshereof, although actuated from the same operating shaft. v

In Figures 1 and 6 the shoe X is indicated, withthe lip w of the insole, and the edge of the upper y as well as the welt or strip w, which parts are to be stitched together progressively around the shoe inthe usual manner. I

Most of the parts herein shown are mounted on a frame part or upright wall 10. This is the left hand one of the two spaced apart walls shown in the prior machines. The parts to the left of the wall, namely, the partsseen in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 may be termed outside parts for convenience, and

I similarly those to the right, of the wall or between the walls, shown in Fig. 2, may be called inside parts. The main or operating shaft llut-ilizes the frame wall 10 as one of its bearings. This maybe provided with cranksrather than cams for operating the greaterpart of the stitching instruments, as in said priormachines. Thus, an outside or left hand crank 12 is shown which actuates the outside connections, while an inside or right hand crank 13 is indicated in Fig. 2

1 for actuating the connections there shown,

and others. The usual hand wheel may be provided at one end of the operating shaft and any suitable stop motion for stopping the machine with theneedle retracted, for 1 example sucha stop motion as indicated in ill Patent ilo. 1,420,580 of June 20, 1922, in which the final retraction of the needle is without loop, so that the work may be readily removed.

The crank driven -eonnections for oper ating the sewing instruments may be of various forms. For example, the needle 0' may be actuated from the inside crank 13. The crank carries a pitman 15,'the movements of which are controlled bya swinging arm 16 pivoted'forward of the main shaft. The extremity of the pitmanis connected by a link 17 to the big lever 18 :tulcrumed atits rear end upon an axle and at its front end conn ct ed by a curved link 19 with the pivoted needle block which carries the needle 0. Thus the needle is caused to oscillate, and when moving forwardly it passes through the welt and upper and insole lipl'and then receives thread fr'ointhe looper D afterwards retracting with the loop and thus 'l ormin g' chain stitches in the usual manner.'

The outside crank 12 carries a pitman 21 which controlled in its movement-shy a" swingingarm 22 pivoted at 23 on a fixed" bracketQ'st. Incidentally, E preterto utilize the swing of the levcr'22, which operates through a" toothed connection and aSwinging arm 25, for actuating pin 0 on'the usual needle guide, which is the'm'einber sliding on the curved needle for giving it support againstbreakage. v v r The crank 12 and pitman 21 are utilized to actuate several elements of the machine. A link 26 is shown extending from the eX- tremity ofthe pitnian 21 to an arm 27. This is the forward arm of a three-armed lever having an upward arm 28and a downward arm 29, all r cking together about the fulcrum or axle 30 near the rear of the machine. The looper'D may he actuated from the upward arm 28 through a long connecting rod 31 extending forwardly to the upward arm of a bell crank lever 32,the' "forward arm of which is provided with a toothed sector 33 engaging a 13111101134, shown in Fig. 1, which is directlybonnec'ted to a bevel gear 35, shown in F 2,,which drives a bevel gear 36 mounted at the upper end of the rotating looper D, thus giving the eccentric extremity of the looper' a circular motion around the path of the needle, for laying the thread in the barb thereof. i

The work rest A has" itsfshankd lit-ted' and guided at'tlie inside of the nsnm'wau, as shown in 'Fig. 2. A conliningp1ate'39 guides its front end and a plate or block 40 serves the same function at the rear. A spring 41 constantly pulls forward on the work rest, permitting it ,to yield backwardly "at certain times, for example, during the feeding of the work to adapt fitself .to the position of the work. The work rest is to be locked forward at certain points in the cycle of operations namely, during the retraction of the needle, and for this locking the following mechanism may be employed. The locking devices are controlled by a lever 42 pivoted at its middle part, its upper end being pulled torwardly bya spring 48, seen in Fig. 1. The movements of the lever 42 are controlled by a cam n which is associated with and rocks in time with the threearmed' lever '27'29. The cam acts against a roll 45 at the upper end of the lever to throw it rearwardly at certain times, thus throwing forwardly the lower end of the lever, where it carries a roll 46 arranged to press forwardly against a sliding pin 4'7. The pin l'Fis for unlocking the clutch device, which consists of the roller or ball is mounted between the shank (i of the work rest and a fixed wedge surface 50 above the same. The elements LT-59 are confine d bea tween the'block' lO and the wall 10. A spring pressed rod 49 tends always to press the roller into \vedging engagement with members a and 50. The pin l? is for pushing the roller from operative position andmay be termed an unlocking pin, and the control lever e2 an unlocking lever. The; parts are so timed that during the retraction of the needle through the work the roller isheld in wedged position, so that the work rest re sists the tendency of the needle to displace the work. The work rest. is never locked against forward'inovement and each cycle freely readjusts itself to any changes in position of the Work.

The shank the back gage His also arranged at the inner side of the framewall 10. its 'ltront end is confined by the same I passes arodSTscrew threaded at its rear end where lock nuts 58 are adj ustablv cured The boss 56 forms a stopdor the tor ward mo'vement ol the lock nuts 58, aspring The I I 59 pressing forward on the head 60 of the rod 57 to hold the partsyieldingly in the position illustrated. The rod head is a r-r,

lift) ranged toabut against-the fixed block 5% to "limit the forward movement oil the back gage. The springclevice scrves as a buti'erto prevent shock and noise, and leatherbntfers 61 may be added at both coiitact points' to give greater quietness.

VJ hen the machine is in the stopped position of Figs. 1, 2, 3 and5, both the work rest and back gage are yieldable-so that they will adapt themselves to the position of the shoe as it isinserted. The workman the channel a; to the channel guide B and during stitching this engagement gives the uidance ofthe shoe as it is fed ro 'res-' 0 I a sively forward by the feed device G. The

welt strip w is indicated in Figs. 1 and 6,

as'passingfrom theback gage member H. to the point where the needle applies the stitches through the welt, the upper and the insole lip. 7 During the time when the work is stationary the back gage is caused to retract, so that when the work is subsequently fed forward a certain amount of welt will have been drawn from the supply, and will be laid in place against the shoe by the member H preparatory to the advance of the needle for the succeeding stitch. The welt guide or back gage H comes forward into contact with the upper or last of the'sho e, limited-by the stop devices 56-6L The subsequent retraction of the back gage does not take place until after the retraction of the needle because it operates, during the retraction of the needle, to firmly hold the work forwardly. The retraction of the back gage when it occurs is of utility, not only for assisting the feed of the Welt in making welt shoes, but'for the purpose of removing this instrument from the shoe so that it will not injure the shoe or impede its feed movement, 7

gage and its subsequent timed release, and

it will be noted that after the backgage has come forward into contact with the shoe and become looked forward it is not at the same time locked against forward movement, but is free so as to adapt itself at all times to the actual position of the shoe.

As a retracting means for the back gage I have shown a member 63 which, specifieally, is in the form of a hook and is arranged to move forwardly and rearwardly by a regular amount and at a regular time, while the back gage is engaged with or released .from the retractor at proper periods of time. r

The back gage retractor or hook 63 may be fitted to move rearwardly and forwardly in any suitable manner, for example, by being hung from a guiding arm 64 and the arm 29, already mentioned, which latter will be the actuating means through which the to the retractor. the hook 63 simply moves backwardly and forwardly in a regular timed manner, the

back movement being timed so that the hook can pull rearwardly the back gage H at the proper point in the cycle. The engagement between the back gage and the hook 63 may be, effected by a complementary hook '65 mounted on the shank h. The hook 65 pivoted at its front end 'so that it may be dropped into engagement with the other hook and lifted out of engagement, and its rear end is formed with an inclined surface 66 serving as a cam for the timed lifting of the h'ook'to disengage the shank from the retractor. The drop of the hook 65 into the engaging position is liniitedby a stop device 67 and a spring 68 is arranged toassistthe descent ofthe hook, tending to hold it in engagement with the retractor hook.

When the back gage, and its hook 65, are forward and the hooks disengaged, the subsequent engagement of the hooks is brought about by the forward travel of the lower hook or retractor 63, which rides under the inclined surface 66 and comes substantially sation of the rearward movement of the back gage is effected by lifting the hook 65 out of engagement with the retractor; By setting this action to take place at a certain point of time the total retraction is controlled. For unlatching or separating the hooks'a pin 70 is shown, this standing in the path of the inclined surface 66, so that as the hook 65 is borne rearwardly it is cammed upwa'rdly by the pin and so caused to disengage from the other hook.

The unlatehing pin 7 0 may be mounted on a carrier or lever 71 adjustable to regulate the timing of the disengagement. Fig. 1 shows that the forward arm of the lever 71 carries an adjusting screw 72 which contacts with a fixed abutment 73. In this way the timing is adjusted at will. A spring 74 is shown for keeping the screw in contact with its abutment and maintaining the unlatehing pin 70 in its operative position. From the above it will be understood that in each cycle of stitching operation the hooks 64., 65 are engaged and the.latter is pulled rearwardly so as to retract the back gage from the shoe, this movement being terminated by the disengagement of the hook, permitting the back gage to spring forwardly into contact with the shoe under the pull of the spring55. This occurs while the needle moves forwardly. Before the needle is retracted it is necessary to lock forwardly the back gage so as to glve added support to the Work while the needle 18 drawing back.

:This may be done by the following clutching fit? of the shank h and at certain times contacting also the fixed wedge surface 7 formed at the left side of the block 54. A spring actuatedrod 79 presses the ball towards locking position, as seen in Fig. 4:. W hen in this position the back gage is free to move forwardly, but can not be moved rearwardly,

and thus resists the pull caused by the re traction of the needle. It is necessary that the shank should be free from this locking action when the needle is not being retracted, For this purpose an unlocking rod 81 is arranged to press forwardly on the ball 77 so as to remove it'from operative position, as in Figs. 3 and 5. The unlocking rodis actuated at certain times so as to cause the unlocking of the clutch 7779 and permit its subsequent locking, in harmony with the stitching cycle. The rod carries a lateral pin 82 (Figs, 3 to 5) which is engaged by an unlocking lever operated under the control of a cam. The unlocking lever is fulcrumed at 83 and comprises the following parts all eitherintegral or rigidly united.

The arm 8 L isslotted at its upper end to receive the pin 2, and is pulled rearwardly by the spring 43. The arm is formed with a fiat extension 85 arranged to cover and enclose the clutch elements. A rear extension 86 is connected by an adjusting screw 87 with an upwardarm 88 having at its extremity a cam roll 89 contacting with a cam. 90 associated and rocking with the three-armed lever 27-29-. Thecain 90 and the cam 44-, previously mentioned, may be cooperatively formed and attached by bolt 91.to the sleeve of the three-armed lever, as seen in Fig. l. The cycle of operations may be briefly and partially described as follows. Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5 show. the parts in their position when themachine is stopped, the needle being fully retracted, the back gage being almost fully retracted by the hook (i3 and both of the clutches 48 and 77-79 being open so that both the work rest and back gage are free to move rearwardly. As the operating shaft rotates from this position the needle starts forwardly toward the work. About this time the hook is lifted free of the re tractor hook and the back is snapped forwardly by its spring into conta'ctwith the- The timing of this action is adyustthe work rest and back gage are locked against rearward movement, but not against forward movement. After the needle starts to retract :the retractor hook comes to its full forwardiposition, as seen in Fig. 4. it is about to move rearwa'rdly and it will be noticed that it has not yet contacted the hook 65. Therefore, the back gage is still notlocked against forward movement. The re-- tracting needle passes out of the work to its fully withdrawn position and thereupon both of the clutches are unlocked, their service having ceased. About the time the needlebecoines fully retracted the hook 63,- moving i'earwardly, contacts the hook 65, thus commencing the retraction of the shank hand the work gage. While this retract-ion is'pro-' ceediiig the parts come to the originally described position of Figs. 1, 2, 8 and 5, and

if the machineis not stopped at this point the operations will be repeated as described. The timing of the feed movement of the work will be understood and is indicated in said prior patents. Substantially it occurs while the needle is retracted out of the work and before or simultaneous with the release of the back gage, so that the feed will be finished before the backgage snaps again into contact with the shoe. There is a certain latitude in timing of the various parts bythe described adjustments and others.

It will thus be seen that I have described a sewing machine of the class mentioned, embodying the principles and attaining the obtion.

JGCtS and advantages of the, present inven- Since many matters of combination,"

arrangement, design, construction, and -de-'- ciprocated from said shaft, a crank 12 on said shalt, a pitmaii2l on said crank, a guide arm 22 guiding said. pitman and oscillated by it, a nee'dlegnide actuating lever 25 oscillated by said guide arm 22,111 coordination with the needle, a looper D, and connec-'.

tions from the pitman 21 for actuating the looper in COOlCllIlfitlQHWltl] the needle 2. Ina welt-and-turn shoe-stitching machine, an operating shaft, a barbed needle re ciprocated from said shaft, a backgage caris ried on its rearwardly extendingreciprocatiiig shank, resilientm'eans pressing the shank forwardly, a lock operating intermittently to lock the shank in forward position while the needle is retracting from the work, and means regularly to retract the shank and back gage rearnuirdly. and to release the same to return forwardly in each cycle, compr'sing a retractor, a cooperating contact on the back gage shank, connections for regularly reciprocating the retractor longitudinally of the shank, the retractor and contact arranged so that the retractor meets the contact always at the same point longitudinally in' the'len'gth of the back gage shank and forces it rearwardly in each cycle, fecting the disengagement of retractor and contact during the rearward movement of the retractor and after the needle has retracted out of the work to permit the back gage to return forwardly into contact with the work.

3. In a welt-and-turn shoe-stitching machine, an operating shaft, a barbed needle reciprocated from said shaft, a back gage carried on its rearwardly extending reciprocating shank, resilient means pressing the shank forwardly, a lock operating intermittently to lock the shank in forward position While the needle is retracting from the work, and means regularly to retract the shank and back gage rearwardly and to release the same to return forwardly in each cycle, comprising a retractor, a cooperating contact consisting of a swingingelement pivoted on the hack gage shank, connections for regularly reciprocating the retractor longitudinally of the shank, the retractor and contact arranged so that the retractor meets the contact and forces it and the shank rearwardly in each cycle, and timed means for effecting the disengagement of retractor and contact, namely, by swinging said pivoted element from the retractor, during the rearward movement of the retractor and after the needle has retracted out of the work, so as to permit the back gage to return forwardly into contact with the work. V

4. A shoestitching machine as in claim 3 and wherein the means for effecting disengagement by swinging the pivoted contact element from the retractor consists of a fixed member having cam cooperation with the swinging contact element such that the rearwar'd movement of the parts causes the disengagement.

and timed means for ef- 5. In a welt-and-turn shoe-stitching machine, an operating shaft, a barbed needle reoiprocated from said shaft, a back gage carried on its rearwardly extending reciprocating shank, resilient means pressing the shank forwardly, a lock operating intermittently to lock the shankin'forward position while the needle is retracting from the work, and means regularly to retract the shank and back gage rearwardly and to release the same to return forwardly in each cycle, comprising a retractor, a cooperating contact on the back gage shank, connections for regularly reciprocating the retractor longitudinally of the shank, the retractor and contact arranged so that the retractor meets the contact and forces it rearwardly in each cycle, I

and timed means for efiecting the disengagement of retractor and contact during the rearward movement of the retractor and after the needle has retracted out of the work, said means comprising a device arranged to cause relative lateral separating motion between the retractor and contact, operated by reason of the rearward movement thereof.

6. A shoe stitchingmachine as in claim 3 and wherein the means for effecting disengagement by swinging the pivoted contact element from the retractor consists of a fixed member having cam cooperation with the swinging contact element such that the rearward movement of the parts causes the disengagement and the retractor is provided with means having similar cam cooperation with the swingin contact when coming forward for repeated operation.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature hereto.

FRANK ZALESKI. 

